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Taimur Samad, the World Bank deputy country director, says more than two-thirds of girls in Nigeria drop out before making it to junior secondary school.
Samad spoke on Tuesday when he represented the country director, Ndiame Diop, at the national conference on girls’ education and empowerment held in Abuja.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) organised the conference with the theme, ‘Effective partnerships on girls’ education, out-of-school children education for national development.
Samad said the significant challenges of girl-child education include high dropout rates, early marriages, and teenage pregnancies.
“Over two-thirds of girls in Nigeria drop out of school before junior secondary school,” he said.
“Thirty-five percent are married by the age of 15, and 45 percent give birth before the age of 18.”
He commended the commitment of the federal government, state governors, and traditional leaders through AGILE programmes in reaching more than 25 million children across 18 states.
He added that more than four million children, including 2.2 million girls, had already benefited from improved facilities.
Tunji Alausa, the minister of education, said every segment of the nation must see the education of girls as a collective effort.
Alausa said his ministry recently inaugurated the national education sector renewal initiative (NESRI) as a strategic response to address the systemic challenges facing the education sector.
The minister explained that the initiative is to prioritise the education of the girl-child, recognising its role in reducing the number of out-of-school children.
He urged traditional and religious leaders to serve as gatekeepers to all communities in securing their buy-in.
“For Nigeria to achieve its educational and development goals, we must move beyond policies and programmes. Continuous advocacy, sensitisation, and community engagement are essential,” Alausa said.
“Parents, women, youth, and all segments of society must see the education of the girl-child as a shared responsibility and a moral imperative.”
Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, also emphasised the need to move beyond policy formation to implementation.
Abubakar said all hands must be on deck to eliminate the barriers hindering the education of the girl-child in the country.
“Implementation is what we need to do. And that’s why we have these leaders here to take home what we all are going to agree to do,” he said.
“We are very committed because it’s a guarantee that we are 100 percent ready to implement whatever we have come up with with the support of our national assembly.”
